Best of What is in Season in Early July?

[Kat]

Hello- We'll be in Tuscany in early July and would like to lok for what is fresh and seasonal, particularly for what might be on special in restaurants. Also, I love rabbit and would like to sample several rabbit and also wild boar dishes. However, I generally think of these as heartier dishes more suited to colder months. Would it be foolish to order such dishes in the summer and better to focus on what is actually in season?

[Kat]

Thank you for this info; it is exactly what I needed to know. I am so looking forward to trying some of these specialties, and especially to tasting my first Italian tomato and some fresh melon gelato. I'm glad we'll be able to try Ligurian food too, the lattughe in brodo sounds delicious.

[allende]

It's usually noted on menus as lattughe ripiene in brodo or lattughe ripiene in umido or just lattughe ripiene and when it is good, it is very good.

[mbfant]

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini. Lots of fruit. Great melons. Green beans, including a kind that is as long as spaghetti. Fresh shelling beans. Pappa al pomodoro, Tuscan tomato and bread soup. Panzanella, bread and tomato salad. If you go to a decent place and there is wild boar on the menu, I certainly wouldnt hesitate to order it. The best wild boar to eat is from the young animals, not the big specimens hunters bring home in the fall.

[Kat]

Good point. We'll be visiting Florence, Lerici, Pisa and one day trip somewhere, maybe Monteriggioni, from our base in Pisa.

[barberinibee]

Lerici is actually in Liguria, not Tuscany, and you will mainly get Ligurian food there, which is quite a different animal from Tuscan food, even coastal Tuscan food. In Lerici in July, be on the lookout for pesto, pesto and more pesto for your pasta. I like my pesto best on lasagne noodles (it's not baked lasagna, but lasagna noodles bathed in pasto). Also, if you can find it, the unusual pasta-crepe "testaroli" is also great with pesto.

Anchovies in Lerici -- fried or served raw or salted as an antipasta. These are very much worth trying even if your previous experiences of anchovies have not been good. A specialty of that area is mussels, but I'm not sure how good they will be in July. You might do better sticking to whole fresh caught fish (I've yet to find good shrimp along the southern half of the Ligurian coast except exceptionally pricey scampi from a bit closer to Genoa).

Liguria specializes in stuffed vegetables (ripieni), which in summer can be wonderful. Also, it's rare to find it, but if you see a restaurant serving lattughe in brodo, it can be a wonderful break from pasta. It is lettuce leaves, rolled around filling, like a ravioli, and poached in broth. (The filling is usually veal, eggs, herbs).

Other good summer bets are salads with a grain base -- usually rice in Liguria, but sometimes farro too, especially around the Pisa area. In Liguria, there is also octopus-potato salad (with olives) that is pleasant in summer.

Peaches and all melons can be great in early July in Liguria, including gelati made from these fruits.

I would be hoping for great tomatoes around Florence and Pisa, but I've never been there in July so others know better.

[allende]

"(I've yet to find good shrimp along the southern half of the Ligurian coast except exceptionally pricey scampi from a bit closer to Genoa)."

Come on barberinibee. You know better than that :) Scampi are not shrimp, except in the US.

[barberinibee]

Yes, but I don't know how else to describe them to someone. What should I say? "I've yet to find good crustaceans except scampi"? (But I do think there are good lobsters along the coast, even if they don't resemble American lobsters.)

[mbfant]

Scampi are langoustines, which most, or at least many, Americans are familiar with. They also go by many other names, including Norwegian lobsters and Dublin Bay prawns, but langoustine seems to do it these days. If you just say "scampi", most Americans will think of the Italian-American dish "shrimp scampi."

[barberinibee]

My experience of American langoustines is that they are really small, like crawfish, so that's probably why I didn't realize they are the same as the very large scampi near Genova, which are the size of giant prawns. I do remember the "shrimp scampi" dish (gratineed shrimp with garlic and butter?) of Italian-American cooking, but I haven't seen it in American restaurants in a long time.

So, to amend my statement: I've yet to find any good shrimp in Liguria, but there are very good, large langoustines near Genoa, and also smallish lobsters in some seasons.

[allende]

@barberinibee. Now you got it exactly right.

Langoustines come in various sizes. Here on the Tuscan coast, and as you said, on the Ligurian coast, the langoustines are large in size and are called scampi.

If you go to France (somewhat paradoxically because the waters are colder in northern France than the Mediterranean), the langoustine tend to be the size of crawfish from Louisiana. These do not have as much meat as scampi, but tend to be a bit (but only a bit) sweeter ( to suck out that roe from the head is pure bliss). Whatever the size, they are simply wonderful if fresh and simply and lightly grilled.

Shrimp in Italy, except for the special "Gambero Rosso" of San Remo which appear every once in a while, have nothing special to recommend them with regard to taste. They are, however, far better than what passes for shrimp in The States, except for those from Cajun country and the tiny Maine shrimp that are around for three or four months in the winter. Why anyone gets excited about shrimp in The U.S. has always escaped me, but then again I've never had a tomato, in its prime season, in The States, that has anything close to the flavor of tomatoes here.

[barberinibee]

We just had particularly good red shrimp in Bari, served raw. We didn't get to sample those in Gallipoli, and I believe it is in Taranto they have a violet shrimp that is much prized.

[erica]

And there are also much prized shrimp named Crapolla in Campania that I've yet to sample.

http://www3.lastampa.it/cucina/sezion...

[allende]

@ erica
I've had them. Mediocre.

[allende]

@ barberinibee
I've never had the shrimp from Bari. As good as the Gambero Rosso from San Remo?

[barberinibee]

@allenda,
To my knowledge, I've never had the Gambero Rosso from San Remo.

In Bari, my husband ordered a huge selection of raw fish at Bacco in Bari. I didn't want any, but he urged me to sample the almost-bloody looking, finglerling red shrimp and it really jumped out as a taste sensation. But they might be good in their own way, incomparable to other shrimp.

@erica,

If you are going to be in Taranto, then Al Gatto Rosso serves gamberi viola del mediterraneo. Gallipoli holds a raw and fried fish festival in early August, Sagra della Frisa e del Pesce Fritto, partly in honor of its red shrimp.

[erica]

BB: Excellent idea, as they appear to be open for Sunday lunch. Question: Since we would be driving into Taranto just for lunch, I'm wondering about parking nearby with luggage in the car, on a Sunday afternoon. What are your thoughts on that and how would you handle? Bring rolling bags into the restaurant? (shudder)

FYI: http://www.ristorantegattorosso.com/2...

Allende: Sorry to hear about those Crapolla shrimp, as I was bemoaning the fact that they were out of season. Must be a tiny catch, as I did not notice them on any menus outside the Sorrentine peninsula. I did have a tasty raw shrimp on the mixed raw platter (correct to call this an antipasti of crudi?) at Acqua Pazza in Cetara, but no idea of its birthplace.

[barberinibee]

The area of Taranto in which Al Gatto Rosso is located struck me as utterly benign and I'm assuming you can keep every sign of being traveler's out of view. However, I hate to be responsible for other people's luggage in a town I've only been in briefly, so here's my advice:

Al Gatto Rosso has walls of windows facing the street, so try to park in front of the restaurant or quite nearby, where there are a couple of government-type buildings which may have a guard out front. Just down the street from Al Gatto Rosso (north, toward the boat channel and bridge) there is also the Hotel Europa, and if you had any concerns, you could pop in there and ask them for reassurances. If they can't give you any, ask them if you can temporarily leave your luggage with them (or maybe the have a secure parking lot), or -- if you were willing to include the museum in your day, the museum might be willing to hold your bags.

Last but not least, Al Gatto Rosso is not a fancy-fancy restaurant by any means, and so long as your bags are not huge, they probably can tuck them into a corner for you. Taranto has the air of a business town with business travelers, so you probably wouldn't be the first people asking to park a carry-on while eating lunch.

By the way, it is quite easy to reach Al Gatto Rosso if you just follow the brown signs to the archeological museum, and I found Taranto an easy city for driving.

[erica]

Much obliged for the advice and reassurances. This will be a Sunday so perhaps parking will be quite easy. Thank you so much, yet again!

[ambra]

I just wanted to quickly mention that Monteriggioni is beautiful, but so tiny, you could do the entire thing in a about 5 minutes. They do a nice tour, but I might still add another city into the mix unless your intention is take a drive through the countryside.

Also, right off the highway, there's a place called Bar Dell`Orso that you can stop at and either get sandwiches (made to order-not the usual stale bar ones) OR have a full-on tagliere appetizer and some pasta (it's not a full restaurant, but they do primi. They've got outdoor seating as well as indoor. The tourists have "discovered" it, but it's still very good!!

[barberinibee]

I can't answer your meat questions, but you should post where in Tuscany you are going. There can be very large differences in what's at its best in July in Tuscany depending on how close or far you'll be from the sea, or whether you are generally hanging around a river valley location like Florence as opposed to a higher elevation (say, San Gimignano).